


The Love Story

by TheGabbing



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, First Meetings, Fluff, Pre-Canon, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-03
Updated: 2015-11-03
Packaged: 2018-04-29 15:21:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5132513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGabbing/pseuds/TheGabbing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steven wanted the story of how Ruby and Sapphire fell in love. It just wasn't how he expected it to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Love Story

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave kudos, comments, and bookmarks if you enjoyed it <3

_“Garnet!” Steven yelled happily as she walked out of the temple. He ran over to her, launching himself when he was a few feet away. Garnet caught him with ease, spinning him around in her arms once before setting him back down. Her hand ruffled his hair as she smiled down at him._

_“Hello, Steven.”_

_Steven jumped up and down with a huge smile on his face. “Garnet, can you tell me a story?”_

_“A story?”_

_“Dad always tells me stories about him and mom. I was wondering if you could tell me a story.”_

_Garnet hummed to herself, before crouching down to look Steven in the eyes. “You know, if you want more stories about Rose, you should ask Pearl. She knew Rose the longest.”_

_Steven shook his head and smiled even wider. “No! I want a story about Sapphire and Ruby!”_

_“Well… I suppose I could do that for you.” Garnet said, getting back up and walking towards Steven’s bed. He raced up the stairs in front of her so he could get comfortable in his bed. Garnet sat on the side of the bed and asked, “What would you like to know Steven?”_

_“How did Sapphire and Ruby fall in love?”_

_Garnet smiled to herself, “Well… It’s a long story.”_

* * *

 

Ruby grumbled to herself as she wandered over the land. Rose Quartz had chosen this ‘beach’ as the ‘home’ base on Earth. There were almost thousands of Gems on the sand, waiting for Rose Quartz, the leader of the rebellion, to address them. A Pearl was attempting to calm down the crowd, trying to keep the Jaspers and Emeralds from starting a riot, but no one ever listened to Pearls. All of the Gems had separated into their type but she was the only Ruby that had joined Rose Quartz. Well, the only Ruby that had made it to the earth base.

When she had first arrived on ‘Earth’, Ruby had thought it was wonderful. She felt guilt that they were destroying the planet. It was a relief when a high ranked Gem declared that she was rebelling against the Diamonds. She would have somebody to follow. After all, Ruby’s did not lead.

Ruby’s head perked back to the group when she heard the sound of the warp activating. She ran over to the crowd, wanting to see the Quartz that had decided to rebel. She tried to push her way through the Gems in order to get a look, but they were all larger than she was. Ruby growled in anger and punched the nearest Gem she could. Which she immediately regretted when the Gem fell over and she realized she had punched a Sapphire, the only Sapphire that defected, right in the head.

The Sapphire looked up at Ruby, her one eye staring at her like she was the worst thing on the planet. Ruby started to apologize, but before she could, the Sapphire flung herself at Ruby, attacking her. The Gems at the edge of the crowd turned and soon there was a group of Gems laughing at the Ruby and the Sapphire that were fighting. Ruby didn’t think of how embarrassing it might have been, she was mostly concerned with protecting herself. That Sapphire was violent.

 

* * *

 

_Steven stared at Garnet, his mouth open from shock. “There was no love at first sight? What kind of love story is this?” Steven groaned and fell back onto the bed, looking utterly disappointed by what Garnet had said.  
_

_Garnet’s hand patted his arm as softly as she could. “A real one.”_

  

* * *

 

 

“I am extremely disappointed in you two.” Rose Quartz said.

Ruby couldn’t help but flinch, an automatic reaction to a higher rank being disappointed in her. Rubies were a pretty low rank, practically equal to Sapphires. But Rose Quartz kept a Pearl at her side as her ‘general’ so maybe she didn’t put much weight into the class system. The Sapphire beside her stayed perfectly still. It almost made Ruby want to shove her again. She didn’t though. She didn’t want to be banished from Rose Quartz’s army.

“I’m going to have to punish you too. I cannot allow fighting among the ranks. It would cause chaos.” Rose Quartz said. Ruby’s head snapped up and she instantly fell to her knees to beg.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, I won’t do it again! Please, just don’t banish me!” Ruby pleaded. She tried not to let tears gather in her eyes but she could already feel the sting of them.

Rose Quartz’s eyes widened a fraction. “Banish? Oh no!” She crouched down in front of Ruby, lifting up her face with one hand and wiping the tears away from her eyes. “Oh no, sweet Ruby. I would never banish you two!”

“You… You wouldn’t?” The Sapphire said beside them. Rose smiled and turned over to the Sapphire, grabbing her small hand in hers.

“No. I did not leave homeworld simply because of what they were doing to this beautiful planet. However, that was a large reason. I will not be senselessly cruel to any Gem in my company. This is why I have my Pearl as my general. I know I could have a Jasper or an Amethyst, but I trust that my Pearl will do what needs to be done. Just as I trust this punishment I have will teach you two patience with each other.” Rose Quartz explained.

Ruby sniffled, wiping the rest of her tears away. “Thank you, Rose Quartz.”

Rose Quartz laughed. “Well, don’t thank me just yet.”

 

* * *

  _  
_

_“I don’t get it. So Ruby and Sapphire hated each other?” Steven asked._

_“Not exactly. Love is a fluid emotion, Steven. Sometimes, you don’t initially like the person you end up falling for. It takes work.” Garnet said, her hands clasping together._

* * *

 

“Come on!” Ruby yelled at Sapphire. “We’ve got to get this down before the next battle!”

Though her hair covered her eye, Ruby could practically feel Sapphire’s icy glare on her. “Do you think I don’t know that, Ruby?” Sapphire got off of the ground, brushing the dirt off of her dress. “You don’t make this easy either.”

Ruby’s fists clenched in anger. Rose Quartz was right; she shouldn’t have thanked her. This punishment was possibly worse than banishment. “I don’t… Are you kidding me?” Ruby screamed, throwing her hands into the air. “I’m actually trying, unlike you! It’s like you don’t want us to do this!”

“Well, if you were a Sapphire, perhaps you would understand.” Sapphire said, turning away from Ruby. Ruby groaned and ran her hands over her face.

“I don’t get it! I’m not one of those homeworld Gems! I’m not going to use this just to get future vision!” Ruby’s anger was getting the best of her. She could feel the water in the cavern start to evaporate around her.

Before Ruby could react, Sapphire had Ruby against the wall. Her hair had moved from her eye and Ruby could see the tears that filled it. “Don’t you think I know that?” Sapphire cried.

Ruby’s jaw dropped. “I… I’m… I didn’t mean to say…”

Sapphire let go of Ruby. She wiped the tears from her eye and returned back to her stoic state. “I’ll tell Rose Quartz we failed fusion.” Ruby’s mouth opened but Sapphire shook her head. “Don’t worry. I’ll take the blame.” Sapphire was out of the cavern before Ruby even got the word _no_ out of her mouth.

* * *

 

_“Garnet… why didn’t Sapphire want to fuse? Isn’t fusing a good thing?” Steven asked, slight concern on his face. Garnet sighed and smiled softly at the young Gem._

_“It’s… different on homeworld. Gems fuse to gain more power on homeworld. Sometimes, to gain a specific power. Gems like Malachite would form and the weaker Gem gets drowned out.”_

_“Was… Sapphire drowned out?”_

_“Yes.”_

* * *

 

It was decades before Ruby saw Sapphire again. Rose Quartz had approached her and said she was sorry for what she had done. Ruby had tried to explain that it wasn’t Rose Quartz’s fault and that she still wanted to try but Rose Quartz had only shook her head and kissed Ruby’s hair.

Rose Quartz had assigned Ruby the new job of Gem collection on the battle field. Since she was small, she was able to weave in and out of the legs of the larger Gems fighting and pick up the Gems that were rebuilding their physical form or shattered. It wasn’t as glorious of a job as she had dreamed of having but she would take what she could get.

The war was getting violent. There were more Gems that needed to get picked up and less that could ever reform their physical form. After every battle she was assigned to, Ruby would go back to the cavern they used to keep supplies and look at all of the Gems she had bubbled. She would feel a sinking feeling of sadness curl in her stomach, knowing that every single one of those Gems were corrupted or cracked and would never be able to see the outside world again.

Ruby sighed and walked out of the cavern. Wishing it wasn’t like it was wasn’t going to help anything. She had to rest for the battle to come.

To wind down from the previous battle, Ruby started to wander across the beach, watching the water ebb and flow around her. Everything on Earth fascinated her. Water constantly moved, cycling through the planet like it was on a mission. Nothing on Homeworld could compare to Earth. She never regretted siding with Rose Quartz, and she knew she never would.

As Ruby was walking, she could hear beautiful singing coming from one of the farther caves. She had never heard a voice so beautiful. Of course, she had heard Pearls sing for their owners back on homeworld, there was one Quartz that commanded their Pearl to sing for them always, but Pearls didn’t sound like that. Ruby tip toed to the cavern. If it was a human, she would have to scare it off like they were taught to. She was pretty sure humans didn’t sound like that.

When Ruby peeked around the corner, she saw it was the Sapphire she had fought with. She was singing a soft wordless song. Her voice pitching high and low at different moments to make the most beautiful melody. Ruby watched her with absolute fascination. She had heard that Sapphires could also sing, that some were assigned to higher Gems for that reason, but she had never actually heard a Sapphire sing before. It was more beautiful than anything she had ever heard.

The Sapphire stopped singing. Ruby yelped silently and flung herself back to hide behind the cave wall. She could hear the Sapphire sigh and say, “I know you’re there, Ruby."

Ruby glanced around the cave wall, only to scream when Sapphire was right in front of her. “I’m sorry!” Ruby yelped. She tried to judge whether she should run away or if it would make everything more awkward. To be honest, she didn’t think this could get any more awkward than it already was.

Sapphire huffed and moved away from Ruby to return to her previous spot. “I would appreciate if you would leave… Please.”

“Wait!” Ruby spit out, her hand reaching out to grab Sapphire’s. Their Gems hit each other and both of them jumped away slightly. Ruby sighed and face palmed. “Urgh. This is…. Not how I wanted this to happen. Just great.”

“I know you feel sorry for what you did. I have future vision, Ruby, you don’t have to.” Sapphire said. But despite what Sapphire was saying, Ruby didn’t think she actually believed what she said.

Ruby shook her head and this time grabbed Sapphire’s hand with the opposite one, so their Gems wouldn’t hit. “No. You don’t… I gotta say it, okay. I’m sorry I was… what do humans call it? A butt? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just… ignored what you went through on Homeworld.” Sapphire shook her head and tried to move away but Ruby held her a little tighter. “I can’t… I can’t even compare my position to yours. I wasn’t forced to fuse with any other Gem to make them feel better. What happened to you on Homeworld was wrong. And I guess… I guess what I’m trying to say is that I apologize. For what I did and for what everybody else did.” Ruby said.

She let go of Sapphire’s hand and clasped her own in front of her, twiddling her fingers. “It isn’t much… but… I just…”

“No… No, it’s…” Sapphire said. “It’s a lot.”

 

* * *

 

_“Does Sapphire still think about it?” Steven asked cautiously. He was looking at Garnet now with more concern and confusion. Obviously, he didn’t understand how Sapphire could fuse after going through something like that._

_Garnet nodded her head. “Yes. She does. Sometimes she has to take time to herself away from Ruby. But that doesn’t mean she loves her any less.”_

_“How did Ruby and Sapphire go from… from that to being in love?” Steven asked. “I want to know!”_

_Garnet laughed. “Like I said, it’s a long story.”_

* * *

 

It wasn’t long before Ruby and Sapphire had become friends. They were the only Ruby and Sapphire in the rebels, what was being called the Crystal Gems by Rose Quartz, and it was only natural that they would grow close to each other. Despite this, Rose Quartz never asked them to try fusing again. Instead, Rose Quartz had asked them to try summoning weapons.

It was obvious that there were less and less ‘real’ soldiers to send into battle. Even Rose Quartz’s Pearl had learnt how to fight. Ruby and Sapphire worked together in their free time, attempting to help each other summon something they were never supposed to.

Ruby threw up her hands in annoyance. “Urgh!” She yelled. “This is never going to work! What is with Rose Quartz and asking us to do impossible things?”

Sapphire sighed beside her. “Ruby, the basin.” Ruby looked down to see that her anger had caused half of the basin to evaporate, the fish swimming pathetically in the last bits of water there was. Ruby screamed again and stomped out of the cavern they always practised in. Sapphire wasn’t far behind her.

“Ruby… I’m sure if we just told Rose Quartz that we can’t summon weapons that she will understand.” Sapphire said quietly. “It’s not like she will punish us if we don’t.”

“That’s… it’s not the point, Sapphire! I want to be useful!” Ruby snapped. “I just… Urgh, I just want to punch something!”

Sapphire rolled her eye. “Well, we both know how that turns out.”

Ruby stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Sapphire. “Did… did you just tell a joke?” Ruby asked. Sapphire’s lips pursed before she burst out laughing. Ruby stared at Sapphire, amazed at how beautiful she looked when she laughed. Ruby threw her arms around Sapphire’s neck, which caused them to both fall over.

“Ruby!” Sapphire said in between giggles. “What was that for?”

“Don’t know.”

 

* * *

 

_“They fell in love and had a happy ever after!” Steven said, jumping up from his bed._

_“Not quite.” Garnet explained. Steven stopped jumping and looked at Garnet in annoyance._

_“I’m starting to regret asking you for a story. Dad’s stories aren’t this long.”_

_Garnet smiled and kissed Steven’s forehead. “Greg shortens his stories.”_

 

* * *

 

In the end, Sapphire and Ruby ended up not being able to summon weapons, much to Rose Quartz’s dismay. Rose accepted it as a fact. She trusted that Ruby and Sapphire truly had tried summoning weapons, after all, it was a year before they told her they couldn’t. Ruby continued to pick up shattered and resting Gems on the battle field and Sapphire ran around and saved Gems who were about to be destroyed. It worked, for a while. Ruby and Sapphire would spend their time outside of battles together, swapping stories of homeworld and why they decided to join Rose Quartz.

Ruby was exhausted. It was a long battle, and it wasn’t even close to being over. It was very possible she could have made more than a thousand bubbles already. In the distance she could see Rose Quartz and her Pearl fighting, clad in battle armour and screaming cries of war. She desperately wanted to help them but she knew if she even tried to go to the center of the battle she would shatter before she could even do anything.

So she continued to wander the edges of the battle, bubbling Gems and taking breaks when she could. There were a few times when she had to jump out of the way of a falling weapon from a destroyed Gem but besides that she was mostly safe. It frustrated her that she wasn’t able to do anything to help. Ruby sighed and watched the battle field for a second. She could see the Quartzes fighting in the center of the battle field, with Gems like Peridot, Lazuli, and Topaz fighting around them. It was a terrifying sight and in the middle was Sapphire running around, grabbing Gems, and pulling them out of danger at the last second. Whenever she saw Sapphire charge into the middle of two Gems fighting she felt her stomach churn with worry, terrified that Sapphire would be the next Gem she had to bubble. Ruby stepped forward, wanting to help Sapphire in some way. Just as she did so, Sapphire turned toward her, horror on her face.

“Ruby!” Sapphire cried out.

Ruby looked up to see a Jasper above her. She smirked happily and raised her fist up to smash Ruby. Ruby closed her eyes. This was it, she was going to be shattered.

The Jasper screamed in anger and she opened her eyes to see that the Jasper’s helmet was cracked. Ruby frowned and she could feel Sapphire frown with her. They looked down and realized that they weren’t two Gems any more. They were a fusion. 

“Oh… my…” They said in unison. The Jasper screamed again, drawing them out of their confusion to fight.

 

* * *

_“That’s when you were born!” Steven said happily._

_Garnet hummed. “Well… No. That was when their Fusion was made.”_

_Steven frowned. “I don’t get it.”_

_“That’s okay, the story isn’t done.”_

* * *

 

After the battle, Rose Quartz’s Pearl fetched them from their place on the beach to bring them to her. Ruby held Sapphire’s hand tightly. She knew, of course, that Rose Quartz wasn’t going to punish them for fusing in battle, but old habits die hard. Sapphire kept whispering to Ruby while they walked behind the Pearl that everything would be okay but she couldn’t help feeling scared. After all, they had told Rose Quartz that they couldn’t fuse. It looks like they had lied to her.

The Pearl entered Rose Quartz’s tent first, telling them to wait outside.

“We’re gonna get shattered.” Ruby whispered, her fear getting the best of her. Sapphire hip checked her and opened her mouth to argue back but Rose Quartz walked out of the tent and both of them fell silent.

Ruby felt like she needed to beg for forgiveness but if it didn’t do anything last time it wouldn’t do anything this time.

“You know, it seems you two are the most troublesome Gems in my company.” Rose Quartz said with a smile on her face. “I have Amethysts who have to take orders from Lapis Lazulis and Peridots who have to listen to Pearls but you two are the ones who have caused the most problems.”

“We know and we are incredibly sorry.” Sapphire said, squeezing Ruby’s hand before stepping forward. “I was the one who ran to Ruby, so it was me who was responsible for the fusion.”

“No!” Ruby yelled. “Fusion takes two Gems, so you can’t punish her and not me!” Like she would let Sapphire take the blame, she wasn’t going to a have a replay of last time.

And almost exactly like last time, Rose Quartz laughed. “Punish? I would never punish you for fusing! You saved each other on the battle field, not to mention practically ended the battle by yourselves. I was right all those years ago when I though you two would make a powerful fusion.”

“So… you’re not going to… URGH! You make no sense, Rose!” Ruby yelled. Her eyes widened as she realized she had just insulted the leader of the rebelling and dropped her honorific.

Rose Quartz laughed again. Behind her, her Pearl rolled her eyes as well. “Don’t worry, Ruby, she confuses everyone, including me.”

“You two…” Rose Quartz said, pausing to catch her breath. “You two are very special Gems. I would like you to join my personal body guard. Pearl will teach you how to fight.”

Sapphire bowed. “Thank you, Rose Quartz, we are blessed.”

“Please, just Rose. I’ve always hated the honorific.”

 

* * *

 

_Steven smiled softly to himself, his hand cupping his Gem. “Mom was pretty great, huh?”_

_“Rose taught them how to be me.”_

 

* * *

 

Every single battle that came after that, Ruby and Sapphire fought in a fusion. They grew even closer, practising in their fusion form whenever they had the time. There were still times when Sapphire spent days alone, unable to fuse because of the nightmares that plagued her from homeworld. But no matter how bad they got, she was always able to go back to Ruby and receive the comfort and affection she wanted.

The last battle was fast approaching and Rose had already given the last of the army the motivational speech to get through it. Ruby and Sapphire were sitting in what was known by all other gems as their cavern, watching the fish swim in the basin that was refilled by a Lazuli. Ruby sighed and punched the ground before she got up and offered her hand to Sapphire.

Sapphire frowned at Ruby but took her hand anyways to get up.

“Okay… So we both know this is the last battle. And… We may not survive. One or both of us may be shattered. But...” Ruby said. “Urgh! This is so hard. But… I just wanted to say that… I wanted to let you know that I –”

“I love you too!” Sapphire spat out. Ruby stared at her, watching as Sapphire’s eye widened in shock. “Oh… That was… I’m sorry!” Sapphire’s cheeks flushed from embarrassment and she quickly hid her face behind her hands. “I just… I saw that as a possibility and I just wanted to… But now I see it was one future and you probably weren’t going to even say that. You probably don’t even… oh, I’m so embarrassed.”

Ruby screeched from happiness, throwing herself forward. They both fell over and Ruby laughed and screamed happily. “I love you!” Ruby yelled, this time out loud. Sapphire laughed too, her eye filling with happy tears. Ruby kissed her and kissed her again just because she could.

* * *

 

 

_“Awwwww!” Steven said, his eyes looking at Garnet affectionately. “You two are adorable.”  
_

_“I think so too.” Garnet said, smirking to herself._

_“That was a really good story, Garnet.”_

_“Ah, but it’s not done yet, Steven.”_

_Steven’s eyes widened and he let out a squeak of happiness. “Really!”_

_Garnet laughed. “Really.”_

 

* * *

 

 

After the last battle and after they had destroyed the communication hub and warps to different planets, Ruby and Sapphire didn’t fuse again. With Pearl and Rose, they picked up the pieces of the battle, making sure no human could get their hands on Gem tech. Still, there were times when Ruby and Sapphire would be talking and laughing and they would accidentally fuse. Sometimes, they stayed together longer than necessary just to feel together. 

It was one of those times when Ruby and Sapphire decided something that would change everything. Their fusion sat in their cavern, looking at what had changed over the centuries. The basin had eroded the rock, leaving the cavern bigger than what it originally was.

**“I think we should stay like this.”**

_“Stay… fused?”_

Their fusion got up and moved closer to the basin to look at their reflection. They looked exactly how one would think they would look as a fusion, parts of themselves mashed together in perfect harmony. The fusion had Ruby’s hair and three eyes. The fusion had Future vision like Sapphire and loved to punch things like Ruby. Her arms were akin to Sapphires and lower body to Rubies. The similarities were almost uncanny.

_“Forever?”_

**“Well, no… I don’t think either of us could stay fused forever. But maybe… just for most of the time?”**

The fusion looked at their hands, seeing the two Gems and realizing that maybe they weren’t two Gems. Or one Gem. What were they?

_“What would we be?”_

**“Something else. Someone else.”**

_“Happy?”_

**“Happy.”**

Their fusion – they – she stood up from the basin and smiled. “Well… We should tell Rose and Pearl, then. Or… Garnet… Garnet will tell Rose and Pearl.”

 

* * *

_“I take it back, I do not regret asking for this story.” Steven said, yawning. Garnet smiled down at him and tucked the blanket around him. “Finish the story.”_

* * *

 

“Rose? Pearl?” Garnet said as she approached them. They were sitting on the beach together, watching the flow of water like Ruby and Sapphire often did. The two Gems turned and both of them tilted their head in confusion.

“Ruby, Sapphire, why are you two like that? There’s no threat of Homeworld anymore.” Pearl said, unsure of what was happening.

“We… I know. It’s just… We’ve… I…” Garnet took a deep breath, reassuring herself that his was the right thing to do. “I have decided that I want to stay like this… As Garnet.” Garnet said. She was scared, of course, that they wouldn’t accept her. It wasn’t normal for Gems to fall in love, never mind stay fused.

Rose got off of the ground, taking Garnet’s face in her hands. Rose’s eyes were filling with tears and she said, “You are not two Gems, and you are not one Gem. You, are an experience! Make sure that you're a good experience.”

Garnet cried.

 

* * *

 

_Steven’s soft snoring filled the house. Ruby and Sapphire watched him as he breathed in his sleep. Ruby kissed the top of his forehead while Sapphire tucked the blanket around him tighter, knowing that if she didn’t he would only kick it off and get cold during the night._

_Ruby kissed Sapphire’s cheek and before Ruby could speak Sapphire smiled and grabbed her hand and said, “I love you too.”_

**Author's Note:**

> So there was a couple things in Canon-verse that I based this off of. One, Garnet has said that love at first sight doesn’t exist in the Love Letters episode so I made it so that they didn’t fall in love at first sight and had to work on it (not that I don’t love the love at first sight trope, I love it a lot, I just wanted this as close to canon as possible). I also love the trope that they fell in love during the war, so I did that despite canon verse not giving us anything to say that they did (They didn’t give use anything to say that they didn’t either). Also I made it so they didn’t have Amethyst yet because in Jailbreak, Amethyst acts shocked/jealous that Steven got to see Ruby and Sapphire, so I thought that maybe it was because she’s never seen them or she’s only seen them a few times. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this. Also maybe some of you guys caught the Pearl/Rose reference at the end ;) if not, well, maybe I’ll make a pearlrose fic if enough of you guys liked this one. And if some of this doesn’t match to canon, I’m sorry, I tried my best?


End file.
